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Many have tried and failed to repeat its success, but nothing can beat the masterpiece that is Alien. Unleashed at cinemas in 1979, the film is a flat-out classic sci-fi horror flick, using extreme moments of suspense to build up the scary scenes. Directed by Ridley Scott, the film is a ground-breaking classic that still holds up amazingly well today, and made an international superstar if Sigourney Weaver.

In Alien, the terror begins when the crew of the spaceship Nostromo are instructed to investigate a transmission from a desolate planet, as they are on their way back home to Earth. Upon their arrival, they make a horrifying discovery - a life form that attaches itself to the victims face, using it as a host before breeding inside the body. The life form then removes itself, waiting for the young it has planted inside the human victim to be born and explode through the stomach. A gruesome description indeed, which is why the film is so brilliant. The alien is now on board the spaceship after it exploded through the stomach of one of the spaceship's crew, all because the remaining crew foolishly let him back on board. It's now up to the crew to stop this alien menace, and fight not only for their own survival, but the survival of all mankind.

Sigourney Weaver stars as Ellen Ripley in her film debut role. Weaver is absolutely perfect for the role, and was practically the first girl-power type female heroine who single-handedly carries this international blockbuster right through until the final minutes. John Cane also plays Kurt to excellent effect, especially in his death scene as he frantically wriggles on the table with the alien inside him. Harry Dean Stanton is brilliant as Brett, as is Tom Skerritt as Dallas. Yaphet Kotto is also perfectly cast as Parker, who provides many on-screen laughs. Veronica Kartwright stars as the loveable Lambert, the only other female member of the crew along with Ripley. Ian Holm as Ash is absolutely brilliant in his role as the android secretly sent on board to bring back the alien life-form, while - in his eyes, and "Mother's" - all other crew members are expendable. The acting in this film is really first-rate, which is another big factor in why the film works so well.

Many scenes from Alien are classics, and are all equally scary. The first really scary scene we witness is when Kane investigates the egg in which the life-form is waiting to spring out onto his face. The noise it makes is enough to give anyone nightmares, and the deathly silence that proceeds after the event is truly eerie. The first extremely shocking scene we get is when the alien explodes from Kane's stomach. The noises it makes, and the screams of pain and terror from the crew members is most disturbing, rivalling anything previously set in horror films such as the scenes from The Exorcist. Ripley's confrontation with the robot Ash is truly terrifying. After she discovers exactly why he is on board and what the truth behind their the mission, he tries to kill her, by blocking all the exits in the spaceship. It's only when the remaining crew (those who haven't been killed off by the alien) come to her rescue that Ash reveals his true self, spinning around the room with white liquid exploding from every orifice. Before long, Ripley is the only surviving member of the crew. On her own, she proves herself to be a true action hero as she finally defeats the alien on board.

All in all, Alien is a terrific sci-fi horror movie that plays with your senses incredibly well. Nothing happens for the first 30 minutes, and that is exactly the director's intent. By doing so, a feeling of extreme suspense is instantly formed, leaving you on the edge of your seat until the very end. When you think of the film when not watching it, you'll think of the long corridors and the eerie silence that stalks them, as these are the scenes that you remember most vividly because of the suspense created.

I urge anyone who hasn't seen Alien to pick up a copy and watch it today, because you really are missing out on a landmark film that redefined the way people think of space, and the horror movie genre in general. As they say, "In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream."

One of the best Gothic scifi horrer of its time. althought Some people with bad taste said it was just friday the 13th in space. The movie wasnt nearly as bad as friday the 13th. The most famous scene of all was the chestburster. The people who watch the scene would be seen in the bathroom five minutes later and the people who closed there eyes probably lost sleep over it

If i had to rate this movie out of 10 i'd give it a 5, it had the potential to be a great movie, but it didn't quite work for me. When me and my friends saw the movie, we were laughing, the chest burster scene was the best if you ask me but when the alien was out and sitting on the table it looked like plastic. but other then it was descent but the robot that got his head cut off... it was squrting out milk! if you were going to buy any alien movie i'd recommend AVP

I just got to see the movie for my first time (i'm 12) and it is one the greatest movie in the world. It is not like other horers(pardon my spelling)where it's just any other day and something bad happens. This movie brings in jobs,mony an all other things like that. It was the scariest movie, as well as the best movie i've ever seen. The special effects weren't all that great, i'm used to 21st century graphics, but for it's time i can see. All in all it's one of the best movies ever

This is my fav movie of the series. It's really good. I saw ALIENS first and I thought it was ALIEN that I saw, so when I rented this I was surprised by that it didn't have all of the machine guns and stuff from ALIENS. Then I realized they were different movies. It's really cool when Brett goes looking for Jonesy and the xenomorph soldier bites his face and then shoots that inner mouth/tongue thingy through his head. Also when Ripley is typing in the stuff in the keyboard and the walls move and the xenomorph soldier's hand comes out. I was so surprised that the walls were actually the xenomorph soldier. (They looked pretty weird though)

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